In a moment of activation, there is an urgent sense that we
must find relief. And if we do not, that we will be overwhelmed, decompensate,
fall apart, and lose ourselves in an avalanche of the emotional world. The ancient
pathways of fight and flight come alive, and we move into action.
Let us honor this sense and perceptual organization, for it
has been with us since our early moments in the holy womb. It was the accurate,
embodied reality of a little brain and nervous system, wired for empathic
attunement, and for the holding and mirroring of its erupting subjectivity.
But here we are now, as adults with capacities we once did
not have, longing to enter into the mystery, into pure aliveness, and to know
love as the organizing principle of this Milky Way home we have somehow found
ourselves in. While there are billions of stars in billions of galaxies spread
throughout infinite time and space, perhaps there is only one star of love.
The invitation is into intimate communion: to move closer,
and even closer still, into the feelings, the emotions, and the sensations as
they surge. To surround the surging material with curiosity, warmth, and most
importantly with kindness, as an inner explorer of the galaxy of your own body,
of which there is no temple more sacred.
While prioritizing relief was critical at an earlier time –
and represented the best way you knew to care for yourself – another pathway is
emerging, as the trance of self-abandonment is dissolved in open awareness.
Listen carefully to the invitation as it makes itself known, through sensation,
image, symbol, and guidance from inner and outer nature.
Yours is the path of direct revelation, and a second-hand
life will never, ever satisfy the longing wired into you. Your appearance here
is unprecedented, and love will never appear in the same way again.
Photo credit: into the holding field of the Milky Way at Fairyland Canyon, Adam Derewecki
The Way of Rest summer retreat – registration open now
